WYE MILLS, MD - Andrew Mills (Owings Mills, MD/New Town) knocked down the buzzer beater three pointer to lift the Dragons to a hard fought 60-57 victory over the Chesapeake Skipjacks. The Dragons improve to 22-6 on the year and still sit in a tie for first place in the region at 10-2 to set up a regular season title game to close out the regular season.

In the penultimate regular season game for the Dragons, the defenses for both teams seem to win out in a scrappy battle. Howard took a double digit lead in the first half only to see the Skipjacks halve that for a 31-26 halftime lead for the Dragons.

After Chesapeake took the lead late in the second half, Ryan Conway (Towson, MD/Dulaney) hit three pointers from the exact same spot on three straight possessions to give Howard the lead along with a little cushion. Once again, Chesapeake fought back and answered that with a run of their own to take the lead late in the game. With the Dragons down 55-54 with two minutes left, Conway hit another long range shot from his favorite spot to put Howard ahead by two. Mills hit a couple of free throws and had a huge block on the defensive half, but the Skipjacks managed to tie the game up at 57-57 with nine seconds left on the clock. 

With the game on the line, Conway drove the base line and kicked out to a wide open Mills at the top of the key as he banked home the game winner as the Dragons bench rushed the court in exuberance.

Conway led the team with 19 points including 13 in the second half as he made five from long range in the game. Mills scored 14 in the game with his lone made field goal in the second half coming in the form of the walk off. O'Meech Wilson (Glen Burnie, MD/North County) scored 10 points with eight of them coming in the first half.

The victory for the Dragons means that the regular season finale will also be the Region 20 regular season title match as Howard travels to CCBC Catonsville on Wednesday, February 28 at 7 PM. Both teams are tied at first place with matching 10-2 records, so the winner will take the regular season championship and earn the #1 seed in the Region 20 Division II tournament.